Okay. You’ve figured out when to hold the shower, who to
invite, and whether or not to use a gift registry. So that’s all there is to it, right? Hardly!
Actually, you’ve done quite a bit of work (applaud yourself!).
But there’s still more work to do. Now you’re really into the
zone, and it’s time to figure out what you’re going to do at
the shower.
Now, this may seem like a strange section. After all, people
will show up at the shower, they’ll hug, smile, laugh, cry
(joyfully, of course), and have a good time. That part is
taken care of. Yet there’s more to it than this.
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In addition to the natural events that are going to occur at
the baby shower, you want to continue managing during the shower. In other words, you want to have things for your
invitees to do, and for them to drink/eat.
Let’s look at each of these important aspects below.
Things to Do: Themes
In case you haven’t been a baby shower lately, here’s some
useful information for you: themes are in!
This means that more and more people are opting to create
a certain style, or theme, of baby shower. Do you
remember those high school dances that were built around a
theme? Like oldies theme, or rock & roll theme, or
something else? And the decorations and so forth all
reflected the chosen theme? Well, that’s the same deal here
with thematic baby showers.
Now, the sky truly is the limit on what theme you’d like to
use. Really: anything that you can imagine, provided that
it’s realistic and within your budget, is fine.
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To create a theme, simply have the following items reflect
what you’ve chosen:
the invitations should themselves reflect the
chosen theme (e.g. Alice in Wonderland)
the baby shower room should be decorated with
items reflecting the theme (e.g. colors, posters,
props such as stuffed animals or balloons)
the refreshments and food (discussed further in
this book) should reflect the theme.
Now, just in case you want to get your creative juices
flowing, some suggested themes are provided to you below.
They’re all from the website www.babycenter.com, and from real people who held successful baby showers (just like
yours will be!).
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Theme: A Tea Party
Do you remember playing tea party when you were a child?
You’d get together with your little friends, or perhaps your
stuffed animals (who were alive, of course), and together
you sat down and enjoyed a pleasant and lighthearted chat
over a cup of tea.
Back then, it’s possible that your tea was, well, of the
invisible variety. After all, you weren’t allowed to have boiling water in your pot; you might burn yourself! Now,
however, you’re all grown up and can enjoy the visible
variety of tea (it tastes a little different).
To enjoy this theme, simply re-create that vision of when
you were young. Invite all of your stuffed animals (who are
still alive, of course), and have them sit in chairs around the area where the baby shower is being held (probably the
living room or perhaps a finished basement).
This theme is sure to bring back a lot of warm memories for
all of your guests; because most of us did play at tea a few times. To that end, you can invite each guest to bring a
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stuffed animal who can attend the festivities (and they can
even leave the stuffed animal behind as a little bonus gift for
the baby!).
Theme: Celebrity
Really: who wouldn’t like feeling like a celebrity every now
and then? Imagine, having people around you bustling to
get your autograph, or to take a picture of you for those
glamour magazines…ah, what a life.
The celebrity here, however, isn’t going to be you (sorry), or
even the mother-to-be. It’s going to be her baby! So this
theme calls for decorations that are worthy of a star –
perhaps even a big Hollywood sign out on the lawn, or in the
front hallway.
And the invitations, too, can be publicity releases instead of
traditional invitations, announcing the coming out of
Hollywood’s next rising star.
And, of course, don’t forget the cake! Instead of a regular
cake, you can have one shaped like a star – like on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame! All of these little elements help
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add humor and energy to the baby shower, and further
ensure that it’s a memorable experience for everyone,
especially the mother-to-be.
Theme: Literary Baby
It doesn’t matter what kind of childhood we had, or how
often we found ourselves curled up reading that very first
book that made such a positive impression on our growing
imaginations. It could have been a Dr. Seuss book, or
perhaps something a bit later, such as your first Nancy Drew
Mystery.
Regardless, a literary theme baby shower calls for each
guest to bring (in addition to their gift) a special book from their childhood; something that inspired them and, indeed,
continues to hold a fond place in their heart after all of these
years.
Though it’ll be a number of years before the baby learns to
read any of the books, they will serve as a wonderful library
that the child can grow into; especially since each book has
been chosen with such great care and affection.
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Of additional value, having a literary theme is a fantastic ice breaker. It gives everyone a chance to share why the book was so special to them.
Chances are, there will be a lot of nodding, and smiling, and
maybe even a few tears, too (the good kind, of course!).
Things to Do: Games
Baby showers are ideal places to play games. They not only help break the ice and get people laughing, but since baby
showers are about having fun: what’s more fun than a good
game? It’s better than working, right!
There are several games that you can play, ranging from old
standards like charades, to more modern ideas like trivia
games. A trip to your local toy store will fill you with several ideas of what could work.
However, you may feel like creating a game that has a kind
of special baby shower feel to it; something that is
entertaining and mildly competitive, but ties into the fact
that it’s being played at a baby shower.
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So in light of that, here are some great baby shower-specific
games that come to us from geniusbabies.com
(http://www.geniusbabies.com/babshowgam1.html). You can alter these games in any way that you wish to
specifically suit your theme.
Game: The Winning Plate
This neat little game involves what most people love in life:
food! Simply put a picture of a baby beneath one of the
plates that will be handed out to guests as they eat. Don’t
tell anyone that the picture is there; just let them eat.
When the eating part of the event is coming to a close, tell
your guests to peek under their plate, and give the lucky
guest who has the picture a prize!
Game: The Price is Right
People seem to love this game, because it’s based on what many feel is the best game show of all time: The Price is
Right!
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Simply purchase a number of baby items, such as diapers,
baby food, a pacifier, or anything that can be found in an
ordinary neighborhood grocery store. Then, have the guests
bid on how much they think everything cost. Reward each
winning bidder with a prize; or offer them points, and then
total up the points at the end. The winner of the overall
game can then win a prize.
Game: That… Was ME?
This is a tremendously enjoyable game! Invite each guest
to bring a baby picture of themselves. Collect each picture, and then put them on a giant board. During the baby
shower, allow guests to go up and browse the big board of
pictures.
Provide each guest with a piece of paper and a pen/pencil,
and have them write down the names of who they think
each picture is (put a number beside each picture so that
they can be referenced).
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At the end of the game, reveal the answers and see who has
the best eye! This game is not only slightly competitive, but
it also always leads to a lot of laughs and ohhhh you were so cuuuuuuute’s!
Food
Author Randy Wilson (http://ezinearticles.com/?Baby-
Shower-Food-Items&id=42045) has put together a wonderful article on the importance of food at the baby
shower. He also delivers some fantastic advice on what to
choose; and what not to choose.
The first thing that Wilson wisely notes is that a full course
meal really isn’t typical for a baby shower. Rather, finger-
foods, appetizers, and munchies like chips and crackers are
more common. A cake is also rather common, as are other
deserts, such as ice creams and pies. If you’re going to
splurge on any of the items, then going a bit extra on the
deserts is usually considered the more acceptable approach.
After all, who doesn’t love cake?
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Also, as noted above, the foods in the baby shower can tie
into the theme. If the theme is celebrity, for example, then the sandwiches can be in the shape of little stars. The foods
don’t have to reflect the theme; which means that you
should feel bad, or like a failure, if you can’t find a way to
make little star-shaped sandwiches (it really is an art form!).
However, if you can tie everything together, it will make
your baby shower that much more memorable an event for
the guests, and the parents-to-be.
Having a wide selection is also important; and we discuss
this in some detail in the “Insider’s Tips” section of this
book. Suffice it to say, try and have enough variety to
account for tastes and dietary preferences. Nowadays, the wise approach is often to allow guests to do a little bit of
preparing themselves.
For example, instead of putting the salad dressing in the
salad, or putting condiments such as mayonnaise on the
finger sandwiches, you can leave these for your guests to
add themselves, if they so choose.
The same goes for deserts. While it’s wonderful to have rich
cake and tasty pies available, it’s always nice to offer fruit as an alternative. Some people may not want to (or may not
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be allowed to!) consume that many calories, or enjoy that
much sugar.
PART 3: INSIDER’S TIPS
Ah yes. What would a how-to book be without insider’s tips?
These are the tried, tested, and sometimes regrettable
details that you really need to know in order to create,
management, and complete a perfect baby shower.
You’ll likely find some of these to be common-sense; though
a few may surprise you. It’s these strange ones that are the
most important to you, because heeding the advice – to do
or not to do them – can be the difference between making
your baby shower memorable for the right reasons, or for
the wrong ones. These are all from the great website
As you plan and roll-out more baby showers (because you’ll
be so good at this one people will want to consult your
services!), your list of dos and dont’s will increase. Keep a
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journal handy to jot these insights and experienced down as
you go.
Things to Do: Plan
It goes without saying (but let’s say it anyway, since we’re
all here together!). PLEASE PLAN AHEAD!
You may be one of those very talented people who tend to
do things without a lot of planning; you just have a flair for pulling things off, and often, for pulling them out just in the nick of time. If this sounds like you, then you should really
heed these sage word: PLEASE PLAN AHEAD!
The thing about a baby shower is that there are a lot of
variables that come together to determine whether it
succeeds or doesn’t succeed. As you know from reading the
first section in this book, everything from choosing the time
of year for the shower, to the amount of time to “RSVP” the
invitations, are elements that can influence the shower. Or to put things more frankly: if something is wrong in any of these elements, then they will almost certainly negatively
influence the overall baby shower experience.
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So how do you deal with this? Simply by planning ahead.
Have a plan – write it out! – and see what you have to do,
and in what timeframe. If you need help, then talk to the
mother-to-be and recruit some deputies. If you need
assistance making a decision – such as who to invite – then
get the help that you need. By planning, you’re able to see what you need to do, and therefore, you can go ahead and
do it.
On the flipside, when you don’t plan, you are almost
certainly going to overlook a detail or two. At the time, they
may seem minor (“do I really need to follow-up with people who haven’t RSVP’d the invitation?”).
Yet once the shower actually happens, it’s kind of like racing
a car in the Indy 500: if there are flaws, they will be
exposed. So don’t let your little details come back to bite you, or any of the other guests (including the mother-to-be).
If you aren’t a good planner, then here’s your opportunity to
become one. It’s not that hard at all; it just requires a little effort (that goes a long way!).
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Things to Do: Decorate
One of the most memorable things about the baby shower
will be the decorations. They might seem like yet another
minor detail in a sea of details, but they will be something
that people notice, appreciate, and indeed, remember.
You don’t have to go overboard on the decorations, and you
don’t have to spend a lot of money. In fact, the biggest investment here will probably be your time. Simply choose
the decorations that reflect the theme that you’ve chosen.
You may want to consult the mother-to-be on the
decorations.
For example, if the mother-to-be is deathly afraid of spiders,
a Charlotte’s Web theme with giant spider decorations
probably isn’t the wisest decision to make.
Things to Do: Cater Accordingly
Perhaps more than ever before, people are very serious
about what they eat; and what they don’t. In the past, it
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was somewhat safe to make catering decisions based on
religious or cultural understanding.
For instance, many Catholics don’t eat red meat on Friday.
As such, if the guest list included people who you knew
followed this practice, you would simply include non red-
meat alternatives, such as seafood. Or if your guests were
Jewish, you wouldn’t serve pork.
While these cultural catering rules still certainly apply, more
people these days are choosing to eat based on lifestyle
choices, not just religious or spiritual ones. Many people, for
example, don’t eat foods that contain trans-fats. Or many
people don’t eat foods that are high in carbohydrates, or
proteins (it’s hard to tell which one is good these days, and
which one is bad!). There are also many more practicing
vegetarians in the western world right now; and that, too,
can be a little confusing. Some people who describe
themselves as vegetarians will eat fish. Some will drink
milk. Some won’t eat cheese or honey.
For fun, log onto the website of any international airline, like
American Airways or Delta, for example. And within their
site, just check out the in-flight hospitality section to see the different kinds of meals that are available. You’ll be
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amazed at how many different categories of food there are.
You’ll find everything from low-calorie to lacto-vegetarian, to
low-carbohydrate to low-sodium, and even more.
Now, don’t worry: you don’t have to serve dozens of kinds of food! The idea here is simply to be aware that in the world
today, people are much more informed about what they’ll
eat; and what they won’t.
So when you make your catering decisions, try and think
outside of the box a little. This means, see if any choices that you’re making could limit your guests’ enjoyment of a
particular food. For example, if you’re ordering little finger
sandwiches, it may be wise to have cold cuts on a separate
plate that people can pick and choose from at their
discretion. Those who don’t want cold cuts (for any reason,
including taste preference) can simply not pick them up.
Also consider the types of foods that you offer. If your guest list is going to be predominantly filled with senior
citizens, foods like celery – which are murder on dentures! –
isn’t a good idea.
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Before we go onto the next do, please take a moment to
consider whether you’ll have alcohol at the baby shower.
Now, this book is not a legal guide and nothing within it,
naturally, should be seen as legal advice. However,
according to media reports, there have been some cases
where people at parties consumed too much alcohol and, as
a result, injured themselves and other people. This is tragic
enough, but to add even more unhappiness, the party hosts
were also seen as partly liable.
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